Eschaton 1 – The Other End of Time

CHAPTER FORTY

Patrice

The return of the lighting made things clearer but didn't make them better; the place was still a ruin. An eye-hurting flicker told Patrice that, in spite of damage, just beside her one of those magic mirror walls was trying to reconstitute itself near the "examining room": bright mirror surface leaping from floor to ceiling, then crackling and turning dark again, over and over. "Stand back, Patrice!" Rosaleen warned urgently, but there was no danger there; Patrice was already hastily backing away. At the tachyon terminal Dopey was babbling in excitement as a Doc was doing something to its controls. Patrice couldn't see what, exactly, but she couldn't even see the controls, for that matter. Whatever they were, they were invisible to her. But Dopey was in ecstasy-delight, certainly; fear, too. "This is our most dangerous time," he called, then, joyously: "See, here are some weapons! Take them! Be ready! The machines will surely detect this energy, and they-oh, hurry!" But he was talking to the Doc again, not to the humans, who were quick to seize the trombone like things as the Doc lifted them out of the cavernous interior of the terminal, then closed the door for the next batch.

"What about our food?" Jimmy Lin demanded, hefting the weapon.

Dopey looked at him distractedly. "Please be careful with that, now there is power! Food? Of course we'll get food from your Starlab, as soon as we are prepared to deal with the Horch machines. First the weapons, then a few more fighters. I believe we should make more copies of you, Agent Dannerman, since it is probable that there will be some losses. Also General Delasquez and Commander Lin; I think it is best to copy the males first, don't you? Since, as I understand it, all of you males have had some weapons training, while the females have not. Or not very much. But of course," he added hastily, turning away to urge the Doc to greater speed, "if you wish we will copy more females as well, as soon as we have finished destroying the Horch machines-"

"Shut up," Dannerman said, pointing one of the weapons at Dopey. Who goggled at him uncomprehendingly.

"But I have asked you, Agent Dannerman, to be very careful with that weapon! It could easily accidentally go off-"

"Not accidentally," Dannerman said.

Patrice had never seen the alien look so bewildered. He stared, his plume agitatedly flickering, then turned to the nearest armed human, which happened to be Martin Delasquez. "I order you to shoot him," he said.

Martin glanced quizzically at Dannerman, then shifted his weapon as well to cover Dopey. "No," he said. "Do what Dannerman says."

Dopey was wringing his little hands again. "But what- But the Horch machines-"

Dannerman said, "It's simple. If you can get things from Starlab, you can send things to Starlab. Like us."

"That is true, yes," Dopey said, uncomprehending but reasonable. "However-"

"So do it. Tell that thing to transmit us, right away."

"No, no!" Dopey cried in panic. "We must fight them here! The Beloved Leaders would wish that!"

Rosaleen had been listening intently; now she took a hand. "Dopey," she said soothingly, "you just haven't thought it through. If we fight the machines here we might lose, don't you see? What Dan means, if we go to Starlab we'll be safe. There's only one terminal there; we can guard it day and night, until your Beloved Leaders get around to reestablishing the communication channel there. That's what you had in mind, isn't it, Dan? Wouldn't that work?"

Dannerman didn't bother to answer. Dopey looked bewildered. Then, pettishly, he said, "Yes, I suppose so, perhaps. But I absolutely forbid it. I-"

Dannerman put his fingers in the loops of the weapon. "Don't forbid," he said, the gun squarely pointing at Dopey. "You'll do it our way or you'll have failed your assignment because you're dead… and then what will you tell your bosses when your eschaton comes around?"

It wasn't that easy. Dopey hadn't stopped arguing. In fact, he never did stop his frantic arguing- or pleading-even after he had given in and allowed the Doc to start the transmissions. Dannerman had to singe a corner of the alien's plume with the weapon before he would go that far.

But it was happening.

They were going home! Patrice stared in wonder and unbelief as the first batch entered the chamber-Rosaleen and the two other Pats-and the door closed behind them. To take them home! Which meant that in a moment Patrice herself could go home! She could hardly believe it, could not take in the sudden change in her outlook-first a dreary and interminable existence in the ruins, then, in the blink of an eye, the sudden prospect of return to Starlab-to Earth-to her life! And it was all happening] The terminal door opened again and it was empty. "Now you!" Dannerman ordered, pointing to Jimmy Lin. "And take Dopey with you, but keep an eye on-"

He stopped, listening. Dopey squealed in terror, and then Patrice heard it, too: a heavy, rapid thudding, and the distant buzzing sound like a hive of bees. The Doc that had started the generator was running ponderously toward them-

And behind it, rapidly catching up, one of the spider-legged machines.

This time Patrice was ready. She had her gun in both hands, aiming it carefully. Whether she hit the thing or not she couldn't tell-both Martin and Jimmy Lin were firing at the same time, and she saw the pale beam from Dannerman's Beloved Leaders weapon wavering toward the thing as well. Someone did. The machine spun around crazily and burst into flame, just as the other had.

Dannerman didn't wait. "Do it, Lin!" he ordered. "You too, Dopey; there'll be more."

But Dopey was complaining, wringing his little hands. "I cannot function without the bearers!"

"Then take them, damn it! All but the one running the transmitter!" And as the alien started to object, simply picked him up and threw him inside. The two Docs followed stolidly, making a tight fit; but then the door closed and they were gone. As the door opened again, Dannerman looked around and saw Patrice standing there. "Now you," he ordered. "Martin, too. I'll hold them off-"

Patrice obeyed…

But not Martin. He grunted, "Who elected you hero?"… and shoved Dannerman bodily inside, as the door closed.

All Patrice saw was a pale lavender flash that went right through her closed eyelids, and a sickening jolt. And then the door opened and they all fell in a heap out into the weightlessness of Starlab. "That son of a bitch Martin," Dannerman groaned. "We'll wait. Maybe he'll make it…"

They did wait. For long minutes. But Martin didn't come.